Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Another great day at San Onofre followed by a mediocre one at Venice

Beautiful San O, a longboarder's paradise. Sunday was kind of great, big & clean and happening, until the tide got too high. But even so, it was all the way excellent. These nice vintage photos do nothing to reveal the grandeur that was. I just like the cars.

San Onofre has a scary nuclear power plant, right there about 2 inches away from the state beach. Well actually it's in the state beach. Yeah that's how they like to roll here in SoCal.

But you do what you have to do and imagine what you have to imagine in order to deal with the fact that you may be either slowly getting cancer, or might just happen to be in a very bad spot if the fucking thing ever goes haywire. Which is totally worth it because nuclear power is so cheap!

So I noticed a surfer in the water who was exceptionally talented, WAY beyond anything I've ever seen in person. It was really fun to watch him do his crazy beautiful turns and whatnot on his ginormous stripey board. Not just any old clown can do this, my friends. A gifted longboarder is a wonder to behold. It almost doesn't look real, what they do.Anyway, turns out this gifted guy is also really nice. Not arrogant or mean, not emanating bad Darth Vader vibes like lots of the choads out there. I guess he saw me catch a big old wave, but with a really wobbly start. I never learned to pop up correctly, yet ironically my other skills have improved beyond that one thing. But that one thing is crucial. I can make overhead waves regularly now, even with late takeoffs if the wave is not too pitchy, but that fucking pop up is holding me back. Which homey totally noticed, because he then offered some excellent advice to remedy my situation. Of particular note was the fact that he found a way to do it that was utterly respectful & thoughtful, without a trace of condescension. I was like, whoa, brother from another planet, I am happy to receive your teachings. Plus you look familiar, why is that?The answer to that question is because it was 3 time US Longboarding Champion Josh Baxter! Correct!

If you don't want to be a stubborn, DIY chump like me who runs before they can walk, go to Josh's surf school. I can tell he's a great teacher.

Blank Slate With Tender Feelings Seeks Brutal Top With Razor-Sharp Focus. Must Have Unconflicted Ability to Inscribe Things with Meaning.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

California is burning

Friday, May 11, 2007

The Gandi do over

These websites seem to have a conspiracy going against me, but rather than getting paranoid and negative, because that's not my style, I'm just reposting the great video work of Gandi, and this time adding a second piece.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Here's one from Gandi

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

San Onofre = Love, Plus Another First For Team Shredder: SWITCHFOOT!!

How else can I say it? San Onofre is a beautiful place and I love it.

It's kind of huge and offers many choices.

On a good day, under the right conditions, you will get so many long & sweet rides that you will even forget for a minute that you did something very cool on one of your first waves of the day there, and that is a thing called:SWITCHFOOT!

Plus, there is nobody there but ultra sweet, mellow, old school people, like Chris and Ty here, who are so nice that you again get distracted from the fact that you did a switchfoot,* even though you are still technically a spastic kook.

*Switchfoot, for non-OCD non-surfers, is a surfer who can ride comfortably with either foot forward. It is also just the act of switching your feet, mid-ride. It usually gets done when you are going back side, with your back to the wave, and you want to face the wave instead. For example, if you are goofyfoot, like me, which is right foot forward, and you were going right on a wave yesterday at San Onofre, and it is easy breaking enough to try, you might suddenly bring your left foot to the front and continue along without wiping out like you've been doing it for a while now. Fuck yes. Eye of the tiger.Here is an example of the great Linda Benson doing a switchfoot. It's in the early film footage, I think on the third wave, when she's wearing the white shirt.